Blinken presses Arab states to discuss the future of Gaza

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to push Israel’s Arab neighbors on Sunday to play a future role in running Gaza, even as he aims to quell tensions beyond Israel’s offensive against Palestinian Hamas militants in the strip.
Blinken arrived in Jordan late on Saturday and met King Abdullah on Sunday before he was set to visit Qatar and end the day in the United Arab Emirates.
Blinken would use the visits to press hesitant Muslim nations to prepare to play a role in the reconstruction, governance and security of Gaza if and when Israel achieves its goal of eliminating Hamas, a senior State Department official traveling with the Biden administration’s top diplomat said.
The U.S. delegation would gather Arab states’ input on the sensitive issue of the future of Gaza before taking those positions to Israel in the coming days, the official said, acknowledging that there would be a significant gap between the different parties’ vision for the strip.
Israeli’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday proposed that a multinational task force led by the United States in partnership with the European Union and regional partners could take responsibility for rehabilitating the territory, with Israel maintaining its operational freedom of action in the strip.